"Cabaye might possibly have to have a little surgery on that groin. You have seasons when you lose players and you have to be able to cope with it," Pardew said.

"If I had everybody available then losing Cabaye would not be such a blow. At the minute we cannot afford to lose anybody."

With Jonas Gutierrez also missing the game against the Swans through injury, Pardew feels his side have been bereft of good fortune with injuries this campaign, citing only one game this season when he has been able to pick from a full squad of players.

"We have been unlucky this year," Pardew said. "We have lost Ryan Taylor and Haris Vuckic for more or less the season. One is bad and to lose two is tough to take and we have had suspensions.

"I can only think of one occasion when I have had everyone to pick and that was at Sunderland when I had all my senior players. I know that is what we need to do. We need our best players back.

"We are stretched this week and we have two big games and really that squad is only going to be added to by Jonas Gutierrez."